I am new to the DIY Drones community and UAVs in general but have a lot of experience producing durable parts made directly from CAD data. When considering the DIY Drones site I noticed there is some great resources for electronic components but what if someone wants to design and produce a stellar airframe or other custom parts? Has anyone dabbled in CAD and considered producing their own parts in nylon without a mold???My company NWUAV (www.nwuav.com) has produced custom airframes as well as shrouds, intakes, brackets, etc for industry and I thought, why not for hobbyists too? If you can design it in CAD, we can build it! Any complexity with walls 0.020" and up (note: best to design 0.040" and up for any load bearing feature). Our parts are flying on thousands of planes. If anyone has some interest, let me know! You can send your CAD files to alex.dick@nwuav.com.
He wanted to build it that big I think, I'm not arguing ;-) I think he might be test flying one at the mo, although in the weather we are currently having I doubt it!
I've had no luck at all with my StarGlider. Maybe (certainly!) I didn't set up my differential ailerons right, but I found the inverse yaw from those big wings and short-coupled body made it totally uncontrollable. I crashed it a few times and then just gave up.
I think we'd all be interested in an airframe that's optimized for UAV use but can be as flexible, park-safe and robust as the EasyStar. (The limitation of the EasyStar are mostly the lack of ailerons and the usual wind penetration issues of a powered glider).
The FunJet and most flying wings are a bit too hot for non-expert RC fliers and are a bit fiddly about CG, making payload distribution tricky. Most high-wing trainers have props in the front, which complicates everything from imaging to pressure sensing. The Predator is a nightmare to fly (tip stall) and needs a runway. Pioneer-style twin-boom pushers tend to be too big for parks. Etc.
Would a ScanEagle style design be better than a FunJet or flying wing?
In industry the applications lend to airframes on verticle lift type models. In other cases the process is used to put a lightweight (non-structural) skin or create electrical boxes, etc. Another use includes ducting to either bring air into an engine or create cooling paths. What's neat about the process is that you can design geometries that are too time consuming, costly, or impossible to make in other technologies. Often, several parts can be integrated into one for increased functionality and value. What I am hoping is that hobbyist are able to capture their unique ideas in CAD and this can be the starting point for conversation/ballpark pricing.
Thanks for the info. Can you share some picture in the comments here to give us some examples of what kind of parts people typically order in the UAV space?
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3m wings?! That's close to 100% scale! Why so big?
I think one snag they had with the scan is a pretty sensitive CG range, maybe thats why they have added the tail now.
A bigger Easystar is long overdue
The FunJet and most flying wings are a bit too hot for non-expert RC fliers and are a bit fiddly about CG, making payload distribution tricky. Most high-wing trainers have props in the front, which complicates everything from imaging to pressure sensing. The Predator is a nightmare to fly (tip stall) and needs a runway. Pioneer-style twin-boom pushers tend to be too big for parks. Etc.
Would a ScanEagle style design be better than a FunJet or flying wing?
In industry the applications lend to airframes on verticle lift type models. In other cases the process is used to put a lightweight (non-structural) skin or create electrical boxes, etc. Another use includes ducting to either bring air into an engine or create cooling paths. What's neat about the process is that you can design geometries that are too time consuming, costly, or impossible to make in other technologies. Often, several parts can be integrated into one for increased functionality and value. What I am hoping is that hobbyist are able to capture their unique ideas in CAD and this can be the starting point for conversation/ballpark pricing.Thanks for the info. Can you share some picture in the comments here to give us some examples of what kind of parts people typically order in the UAV space?
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